What causes "Model binding '${bindingName}' has an invalid effort." in coleam00/Archon?

Correct the binding's effort value in the run's model_bindings metadata to a schema-valid effort (e.g. minimal|low|medium|high per the schema)

coleam00/Archon · error · Error

Model binding '${bindingName}' has an invalid effort.

Error message

Model binding '${bindingName}' has an invalid effort.

What it means

readRunModelBindingsMetadata validates a run's model_bindings metadata with runModelBindingsMetadataSchema. When validation fails and the first issue path contains 'effort', it throws this error naming the binding whose reasoning-effort value is invalid. Invalid persisted effort values cannot be mapped onto a provider call, so execution stops early with a clear message.

Source

Thrown at packages/workflows/src/model-validation.ts:504

    },
  };
}

/** Read metadata written by this module; malformed external JSON fails explicitly. */
export function readRunModelBindingsMetadata(
  metadata: Record<string, unknown> | undefined
): RunModelBindingsMetadata | undefined {
  const value = metadata?.[RUN_MODEL_BINDINGS_METADATA_KEY];
  if (value === undefined) return undefined;
  const parsed = runModelBindingsMetadataSchema.safeParse(value);
  if (!parsed.success) {
    const path = parsed.error.issues[0]?.path ?? [];
    const bindingName = typeof path[2] === 'string' ? path[2] : 'unknown';
    if (path.includes('thinking')) {
      throw new Error(`Model binding '${bindingName}' has invalid thinking options.`);
    }
    if (path.includes('effort')) {
      throw new Error(`Model binding '${bindingName}' has an invalid effort.`);
    }
    if (path[0] === 'overrides' && (path[1] === 'tiers' || path[1] === 'aliases')) {
      throw new Error(`Workflow run has invalid model_bindings ${path[1]} metadata.`);
    }
    if (path[0] === 'effective') {
      throw new Error('Workflow run has invalid effective model bindings.');
    }
    throw new Error('Workflow run has invalid model_bindings metadata.');
  }

  const tiers = Object.fromEntries(
    Object.entries(parsed.data.overrides.tiers ?? {}).map(([name, preset]) => [
      name,
      normalizePersistedOverridePreset(name, preset),
    ])
  );
  const aliases = Object.fromEntries(
    Object.entries(parsed.data.overrides.aliases ?? {}).map(([name, preset]) => [

View on GitHub (pinned to 0773b97458)

Solutions

Correct the binding's effort value in the run's model_bindings metadata to a schema-valid effort (e.g. minimal|low|medium|high per the schema)
Delete and re-launch the run with valid model_bindings
Check which writer produced the metadata and align it with runModelBindingsMetadataSchema

Example fix

// before
"bindings": { "node1": { "effort": "maximum" } }
// after
"bindings": { "node1": { "effort": "high" } }

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const parsed = runModelBindingsMetadataSchema.safeParse(metadata);
if (!parsed.success) {
  const bad = parsed.error.issues.find(i => i.path.includes('effort'));
  if (bad) throw new Error(`Binding '${String(bad.path[2])}' has invalid effort: ${bad.message}`);
}

Type guard

function hasValidEffort(b: { effort?: unknown }): boolean {
  return runModelBindingsMetadataSchema.shape.bindings
    .element.pick({ effort: true }).safeParse(b).success;
}

Try / catch

try {
  await executeWorkflow(runId);
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof Error && /has an invalid effort/.test(err.message)) {
    console.error(`${err.message} — fix the effort value in model_bindings metadata.`);
  } else throw err;
}

Prevention

Only use effort values from the schema's enum, not free-form strings
Type the effort field with the exported union type so invalid values fail at compile time
Validate metadata fixtures with the schema before persisting them in tests

When it happens

Trigger: executeWorkflow reads a run whose stored binding entry has an effort value outside the schema's enum (e.g. 'maximum' or a misspelled 'hight'); metadata written by a different/older schema version; hand-edited database rows.

Common situations: Typo in an effort value when editing run metadata; writer/reader schema drift after an upgrade; test fixtures with made-up effort strings.

Understand the failure class

Background: Schema validation failed / invalid input schema: payload rejected because its shape doesn't match the expected schema — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of coleam00/Archon@0773b97458 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/96086e8b55ba17f3. Report an issue: GitHub.